Bigelow, B., Pelo, A., Peterson, B., Stone, M. K., McClanahan, L. G.,
Naimark, S. K., ... Koenig, K. P. (2009). Teaching for environmental justice. Rethinking Schools, 23 (4). |
An entire issue of Rethinking Schools concerned with environmental justice. The journal contains articles dealing with curricular and pedagogical changes important for creating a shift toward more just schools and classrooms.
|
Carter, M. (2006). Greening the ghetto. TED. Retrieved from
https://www.ted.com/talks/majora_carter_s_tale_of_urban_renewal? language=en |
Carter describes her own fight for environmental justice in the South Bronx while explaining how minority neighborhoods suffer most from flawed urban policy.
|
Environmental Protection Agency. (2007). Environmental Justice. Retrieved
from http://www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice/index.htm |
This publication by the EPA provides an official definition of environmental justice and outlines the rationale for this particular unit.
|
Fleischman, P. (1997). Seedfolks. New York: HarperCollins.
|
A short novel illustrating a community garden in Cleveland, Ohio. Each chapter is written form the perspective of a different neighbor contributing to the garden. The novel highlights ethnic diversities and how these can contribute to vibrant communities formed around environmental activism.
|
Ritz, S. (2012). A teacher growing green in the South Bronx. TED. Retrieved
from http://www.ted.com/talks/stephen_ritz_a_teacher_growing_ green_in_the_south_bronx |
A high school teacher engages his students in engineering innovative ways to grow food while aesthetically enhancing classrooms and communities. Through problem-posing instruction, Ritz encourages his classes to consider and evaluate the injustices related to limited access to fresh foods in urban communities.
|
Pastor, Jr., M., Sadd, J. L., & Morello-Frosch, R. (2002). Who's minding the
kids? Pollucion, public schools, and environmental justice in Los Angeles. Social Science Quarterly, 83, 263–280. |
Research identifying the presence of environmental injustice in Los Angeles public schools. Minority students, especially Latinos, are more likely to attend schools located near hazardous sites. Curriculum, policy, and development of new schools should recognize this inequality.
|
Peloso, J. (2007). Environmental justice education: Empowering students to
become environmental citizens. Perspectives on Urban Education, 5 (1). |
In this article, Peloso argues for the importance of environmental justice being included in social justice education. She recognizes this is especially true in urban classroom, where instances of environmental injustices are more predominant. Peloso believes part of the solution to these injustices lies in community-driven grassroots organizations, thus making schools the perfect place to begin discussing the issue.
|
Teaching Tolerance. Environmental justice. Retrieved from
http://www.tolerance.org/activity/environmental-justice |
Three lesson plans differentiated for elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. Each lesson guides students to engage in geographic thinking in order to analyze how minority groups are disproportional negatively effected by pollution. These lessons were the foundation for the lesson plan Pollution in Milwaukee.
|
Teaching Tolerance. Introducing kids to the idea of environmental racism.
Retrieved from http://www.tolerance.org/lesson/introducing-kids-idea- environmental-racism |
Activities to begin discussing environmental justice with K-5 students. Students are to engage with their own experiences and background to come to understand environmental racism.
|
United Nations. (2014). WATCH: Marshallese poet Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner
speaking at the Climate Summit. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/ climatechange/summit/2014/09/watch-marshallese-poet-kathy-jetnil- kijiner-speaking-climate-summit/ |
Here is a video of a woman from the Marshall Islands, Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, presenting a poem to the delegates attending the 2014 UN Climate Summit. The poem is written as a letter to Kathy's newborn baby describing how climate change and rising sea levels is causing their home to sink into the ocean. The Marshallese people are some of the most immediately effected people in the world by climate change and are currently becoming climate refugees.
|
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. (2015). Paris
Agreement (FCCC/CP/2015/L.9). Paris, France: United Nations. |
Agreement between 196 countries on how to move forward on global climate issues. This agreement, which is to be ratified in 2016, is the culmination of a decade of negotiations and aims to keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees, a recognized "point of no return."
|
Urban Ecology Center. (2015). Logic Model. Milwaukee, WI.
|
This document outlines the mission of a non-profit organization focused on creating community change by developing ecological understandings, neighborhood by neighborhood.
|